Right fumes over Michigan punch-up

The right roared back against a dustup between pro- and anti-union demonstrators surrounding Michigan’s passage of a right-to-work plan that limits labor power.

Thousands of pro-union protestors swarmed outside the state Capitol building in Lansing, Mich., some of them collapsing a tent of conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. AFP posted video of the incident with the tent and included it in a fundraising email.

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Snyder: Dems sparked right-to-work

Obama still opposes right-to-work law

“This shows the true nature of the unions. Too often, they’re willing to be violent and this has no place in American civil discourse,” AFP President Tim Phillips told POLITICO. “And they ought to be ashamed of themselves, and I think it’s going to hurt them [as the debate continues].”

He continued: “And we already are sharing this video with media because we want to hold them accountable. This is wrong. And I don’t know in my memory anything remotely coming close to this from our side, certainly not from the tea party. The left liked to make much ado about a few inappropriate signs or Facebook posts, but we never in the tea party saw anything like a physical assault.”

The Lansing State Journal reported that a handful of the estimated 12,500 demonstrators were arrested for obstructing police.

A union supporter punched Fox News contributor Steven Crowder, which he Tweeted about following the incident:

Even if you hate me, nothing I could have done warranted being suckerpunched and threatened with murder. ow.ly/g1aeq#RTW— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) December 11, 2012

Earlier in the day, conservative radio commentator Lars Larson called the protesters “union thugs” on Fox News.

“The fact is I’ve been covering unions for the best part of 35 years, and you almost always see illegal activities, violence, assaults and this kind of behavior from unions that are on strike. And you say they have a right to be angry? The people of Michigan have a right to change their laws through the process.”

But some on the left are saying the reports are overly exaggerated.

Laura Clawson wrote on The Daily Kos: “Predictably enough, the Fox News-Breitbart crowd is trying to make it look like Tuesday’s protests in Michigan were wildly violent. But despite the fact that there are hundreds of police and reporters on the scene, reports of violence from police and non-Fox-Breitbart reporters are minimal to non-existent.”

We see this in Philly every day. Workplaces are routinely shut down by various unions and he cops usually look the other way cause they're union too. Meanwhile this city has lost 500,000 people in 30 years of Democratic control. This guy Nutter has raised r/e estate, sales, and business taxes by about 17% and now he wants to "equalize" real estate taxes which translates to a rate increase of 80% for some people.

My dad was a union guy, but by the time he passed, he said they went the way of all suits. Now, the top people are flthy rich just like the CEO's they scream about. These punks and thugs need a good kneecapping -especially the ones who trashed the AFP tent. Goons!

The Animal Farm - 2012. I knew this would happen after the people were silenced by The One at the Democrat Convention. Remember when the Chairman was ordered to ignore the voice votes of the people? That scene was Hitlerian in it's implications. Now, we see The One has basically sided with goons and was probably tickled at the collapse of the AFP tent. That could have killed someone. What's next? Let's trash Bill Gates estate fellas! He never earned it!

We need more programs like the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the National Recovery Administration (NRA). We need less wasteful spending on defense.

Unfortunately, Democrats typicly resort to threats of physical violence if they do not get their way. Just look back at the election of the multiple threats if Obama lost, look at the threats if Obamacare.

Unfortunately this country's politics have sunk to Chicago style techniques. When you lay down with dogs, you wke with fleas.

I agree with the cons. Cut workers wages and increase salaries and bonuses of the rich. The rich know how to create jobs by buying boats and cars and maids and yard people. The stupid union poor will only buy food and clothes, etc.

Where is Reagan when we need him! Just tell the teacher union thugs and thuggettes - stay home - and hire some teachers that want to work and teach! Unions and government work do not work together as the result show dramatically!

When the left doesn’t like a piece of legislation involving Unions the Democrats talk local prison wardens into giving Union members in their facilities a three day pass for a thug-practices refresher.

(CNSNews.com) - In the public schools in Detroit, Mich., according to the U.S. Department of Education, only 7 percent of the eighth graders are grade-level proficient or better in reading.

Some public school teachers in the City of Detroit and around the state of Michigan are reportedly taking a vacation or a sick day today to protest right-to-work legislation likely to be approved by the state legislature. Under current law, Michigan public school teachers must pay dues to the teachers’ union. If the right-to-work law is enacted, Michigan public-school teachers will be free to join the union and pay dues to it if they wish, but they will also be free not to join the union and not to pay it dues.

Detroit public-school eighth graders do even worse in math than they do in reading, according to the Department of Education. While only 7 percent scored highly enough on the department’s National Assessment of Educational Progress test in 2011 to be rated “proficient” or better in reading, only 4 percent scored highly enough to be rated “proficient” or better in ma Why do we allow this to happen other than to collect campaign donations - and where is our liberal biased media operatives? Do they send their kids to private schools like Obama?

The Triangle Shirt Factory is history. As someone who was raised in a democrat, union household in Newark, New Jersey and also as someone who has an absolute historic appreciation for what the unions of yesteryear accomplished on behalf of the working man, today’s unions have not only become superfluous, they are a detrimental in numerous ways. The one bright spot on this Country’s horizon is that unions have been and will continue to go down before they can do more harm. The writing is on the wall.

How can you post such garbage with what I'm sure is a straight face? You credit a comment to a contributor from the Daily Kos who described the violence as "minimal to non-existent", yet there on YouTube is a video of a violent assault on an individual who appears to have only asked a simple question. I don't know where more shame should lie - among the union members who assaulted innocent people or "journalists" like you who clearly possess not a shred of integrity.

Why do we allow this to happen other than to collect campaign donations - and where is our liberal biased media operatives?

Do they send their kids to private schools like Obama?

Evening Jack....

Equal education and equal opportunity remain the only viable tools for uplifting the poor. Opportunities are a problem period these days and it looks like the future is bleak on that score. But, we can work on the education part. And, we might consider modifying past and present methodologies since we have overspent and achieved little by way of improvement. A terrific first step is to rid ourselves of the teacher's unions whose function is not about helping the children no matter how good that little piece of propaganda may sound to the naive among us.

Detroit is turning into a hellhole. Did you catch that Detroit politician who loudly and publicly declared that she wanted her quid pro quo from Obama? LOL I guess she hasn't heard that political quid pro quo is unlawful.